


a (lost) lifetime

by JazzGirl123



Category: Labyrinths of Astoria (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi, Tones of Abuse, Toxic Relationship, abuse mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:55:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22812703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzGirl123/pseuds/JazzGirl123
Summary: a wise woman once asked:"what if mc was raised precisely to become hera would that be fucked up or what"and a sleepy blogger took it from there
Relationships: Alex Cyprin/Main Character, Astraeus/Main Character (Labyrinths of Astoria), Cerberus/Main Character (Labyrinths of Astoria), Chimera/Main Character (Labyrinths of Astoria), Hades/Main Character (Labyrinths of Astoria), Hydra/Main Character (Labyrinths of Astoria), Medusa/Main Character (Labyrinths of Astoria)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Megatraven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megatraven/gifts).



> hey! very much new to writing for Lovestruck & Astoria, so I hope you guys like it!
> 
> fyi my mc's name is Daphne Atlas, so that's the name I used here! 
> 
> and the text post that started this: https://megatraven.tumblr.com/post/190509726424/what-if-mc-was-raised-precisely-to-become-hera

The gods argue over who actually raises her. 

Aphrodite wins the argument, but she raises both Daphne and Josh, kindly and fairly, tells her of her “destiny” to be Hera, but does not enforce it, and then Daphne, young and rebellious and only 12 or 13, shouts, “ _ well what if I don’t want to be Hera _ ?” in a meeting between gods and Aphrodite loses her right to raise Daphne as Zeus modifies Daphne’s memories and “starts over”, this time under another god. 

Hades and Persephone try their best, but they too become soft, and not just because Hades already feels he failed Daphne’s mother the first time. She tells her fiance she wants to live here now, and Zeus rages and decides to try again, this time under his own attention. 

Hercules is passive aggressive with her, sharing his home with a mortal - especially one so young, only 16-17, and destined to be his stepmother one day. Well, not  _ her _ , but also her. It’s confusing, and he avoids her when his father is around. She tries not to feel hurt by it, but she is so lonely she would even settle for his company.

Aphrodite continues to raise Josh and Alex, apologizing nearly every day for separating the siblings (and she considers that a victory in some ways, the fact that Zeus saw mortals so below him he forgot about Josh and didn’t take his memory - only his entire family).

Daphne is 19 and frustrated she hasn’t come up with any of Hera’s abilities yet. The gods croon in her ear she cannot because she is mortal; Hera will have her abilities when she wakes, worry not. She needs only to focus on reading Hera’s books and meditating; let her mind open up to the gods.

She is 24 and she goes to Aphrodite’s home to ask what Hera and Zeus’s relationship had been like to want her back so desperately, even after all these. She meets Josh, and she’s never met him but she feels like she does, and her head and heart hurt, and she is quick to leave. She misses his grief-stricken face as he closes the door behind her.

On her 25th birthday, she finds a small box under her pillow. It’s a ring, gifted from Aphrodite. She wears it as a necklace, instinct telling her not to wear it around the other gods. She dreams of a woman who looks like her, she guesses her mother, and she dreams of Josh, but as a child. She forgets it in the morning.

She is 26 and they tell her Hera will come soon, that they can feel it. She wonders if she should tell them the shield her ring came up with the other day, on a rare day they let her outside. She comes to her room and finds her little keepsakes of the mortal world gone; her fiance tells her it’s best not to be attached. She keeps the ring to herself.

She is 27, and she’s met so many interesting people. Befriended a lot of them in secret; the gods were very much against her having any sort of relationship, any attachment to the world she was leaving. 

But she loves them all; Medusa, Chimera, Cerberus, Hydra. They make her want to live to the fullest, and she tries not to sound selfish when she realizes how they light up when they see her. Hydra even puts his ramen down when he sees her, and that’s a great honor coming from him.

And nothing beat the soft, knowing smile given to her by Astraeus, the gentle titan she had encountered (and whomst had let her practice her ring’s ability on). 

Of course, she’s grateful for the friendship she has with Alex; being with them makes her feel like she’s found something she doesn’t even know she’s missing, but they always give her such a sad look when she’s around them. Same thing with the odd friendship she has going with Hades. But perhaps it’s because they are so close to Olympus, the very place she tries to avoid now.

She wonders how much they will miss her when she is gone. Would it be better to tell Zeus and ask him to have them forget her? The idea of it hurts her so greatly she dismisses it as quickly as she thinks of it.

She turns 28, and she decides she doesn’t want to be Hera. She doesn’t think the gods even remember her actual name; she didn’t think she did either.....until Josh tells her. And he tells her  _ everything _ . 

She’s betrayed. She’s hurt. She’s  _ furious _ .

Denied her mother. Denied her brother. Denied friends,  _ love _ , her  **life** . 

She sits in her room, adorned with peacocks and gold to awaken any memories or so she was told, and she knows the gods will not stand with her if she fights them. (Most of them, at least.) She thinks of those who  _ will _ . 

Her ring - her mother’s ring - burns under her clothes and she reaches for it, allowing the sun to hit it for the first time in years. Something in her lifts, fills her with light. Feelings, memories, something that  _ burns  _ through her bloodstream, and she gasps for breath.

The gods wanted Hera, and so it is Hera they will face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: mentions of abuse

Her head is throbbing, and she’s certain there’s streaks of blood coming down the side of her face, but she hardly pays attention to it. They will heal soon anyways.

“Gods, look at you,” whispers Alex, reaching for her face, but she waves them away. 

She puts Posiedon’s artifact on the kitchen table, and the room falls silent. 

“This is a crime,” says Ceberus, nothing but a bundle of nerves. It’s so unlike him, it makes her laugh. “How many does that make now?”

“It has to be done,” says Hydra, voice sharp and clear and without a doubt ready to fight. She’s always loved and hated that about him. “They all have to fall.”

“All?” Alex murmurs, and she catches their gaze. If there’s anyone she feels sorry for, it’s them. She could tell them they can leave any time they want, but they already know that and she already knows they would never leave her. She wonders if perhaps she is taking advantage of that. 

“All of them, my child.” Aphrodite places a hand on the demigod’s shoulder, and it’s quite obvious how tired she is. She knows her time is coming as well. “We have done too much harm to both worlds for too long.”

Astraeus makes a noise from the corner of the apartment, and she knows how restless he must be. This is everything he’s ever wanted, and at the same time it’s going nothing like he had imagined.

She goes to him, sits on the arm of the chair he’s claimed as his. By instinct, his hand comes to her waist and she resists the urge to slide into his lap, all too aware of the others looking at the two of them. Something else she has to decide on.

“Olympus will fall,” she promises, and the silence swallows her words. “We gave them their chance to make things right, and they chose this path instead.” 

“Hera -  _ Daphne _ ,” corrects Aphrodite, a mix of emotions crossing her flawless face. She can only imagine how her oldest friend must feel looking at her. An old friend, a past lover, the daughter of both; all in one. “You don’t have to get the artifacts yourself; Hades or I could get them-”

“And risk endangering yourselves even more?” She shakes her head. “Zeus tells them to hold back because he knows I am awake now. Or rather, Hera?” She lets out a hollow laugh, and Astraeus presses his fingers into her side. “He won’t let anyone hurt me.”

“I suppose that’s something we can agree on,” remarks Medusa, crossing her arms over her chest. “But if we really do this, Daphne, then by the end, you’ll-”

“I know.” She runs a thumb over her ring, a gift from her mother, she knows now. She is both relieved and disappointed she doesn’t have her mother’s spirit as well, but she knows it is only because Hera never woke during her time. “I don’t know what will happen, but we’ll get there when we get there.”

“Who’s next?” Chimera asks, clearly desperate to change the subject. Perhaps it’s for the best; she isn’t ready to say goodbye. “They’ll guard their artifacts more closely now that they know what you’re after.”

“Artemis,” she decides with a click of her tongue. “But first...I have to see him.”

She doesn’t need to say who she means, and she closes her eyes with a sigh as everyone speaks at once.

“He won’t let you go!”

“That’s a suicide mission!”

“He’s just going to try and manipulate you again!”

“I’ll go with you.”

She looks over at Hydra, a scowl marring on his pretty face. 

“What?” She blinks. The others quiet down, looking at him in surprise.

Hydra’s cheeks flush pink, and she knows it’s not the time but he can be really adorable when he wants to be.

“She’s going to go anyways,” he says, averting his gaze. “May as well make sure she’s not alone.”

It’s silent for a moment, and then Astraeus clears his throat.

“I agree,” he says, gazing up at her and she feels herself turning warm. He always looks at her like she put the sun in the sky, like she’s the one goddess he’d follow around blindly, and as much as she hates being a goddess, the idea fills her with a sort of joy she can’t explain. “We have to respect Daphne’s choice and if this is what she wants to do, we can only make it less difficult for her.”

They sit on that, and then Alex approaches her with a wet rag, and she gives them a soft smile as they dab at the dried blood on her face. 

“He’s going to be in one hell of a mood,” warns Aphrodite. “It could go well, or it could go south really fast, darling. You have to remember, he’s obsessed with you as Hera.”

“It’s hard to forget,” she remarks, flinching when Alex runs the rag over her open cut. Alright, maybe so she doesn’t heal as fast as the other gods. But her blood is still red, not gold, so she considers it a small victory in some ways. “I promise I’ll be fine.”

She gently pushes Alex’s hand away and then leans over to kiss them on the cheek as thanks; she is not oblivious to the way the others stare longingly at the scene, and that is why she leans over and does the same to Astraeus, who makes a little choking noise. It’s adorable, given what they’ve done in the past.

She gets to her feet and makes a point of kissing them all goodbye, and then she smiles at Hydra.

“Let’s go,” he says and opens the door for her. As it shuts behind them, he comments, “What, no kiss for me? Your loyal bodyguard?”

She knocks into his side, rolling her eyes.

“Shut up.”

In a way, she’s glad one of her partners is coming with her to see her husband. It certainly won’t be easy to convince him to sign the divorce papers.

Then again, it wasn’t easy to convince her to sign the marriage certificate, so to speak. 

The way he bruised her arms, and got in her face when she expressed doubts about their marriage; the way he would turn around and shower her with affection and sweet nothings afterwards, and she would convince herself he was such a sweet man, just under so much pressure. 

She remembers the times she convinced herself she loved him, and that he loved her, and that they would be perfectly fine. She remembers actually being in love with him, when he was kind and gentle and treated her like his queen. 

Then the power of being king of the gods got to his head, and she would sob into Aphrodite’s arms when he claimed a new lover and expected her to be fine with it. 

And she would be, because she loved him, and he would take her in his arms and kiss her and make her feel like the only one for him. 

Unfortunately for him, she’s not the same person she was back then. 

She knows what it’s like to be loved -  _ really  _ loved - now, and she won’t fall for his tricks anymore. 

“Are you ready?” Hydra asks, and she looks to see they’re in front of the golden elevator that holds both so much promise and falsehoods. “Daphne?”

Her name sounds so sweet on his lips, and she smiles at him with confidence.

“Let’s go confront my ex husband.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahahah guess this is becoming a thing :')

**Author's Note:**

> and then she tore down Olympus and started a happy poly relationship with everyone, and reconnected with her brother, the end lmao


End file.
